Sunday, May 17

American Woodcock peent at dusk and dawn from the ground before rising into the air to perform their flight display. Although they are heard more often in February through early spring, the calls can be heard even in December if the weather is mild.(dawn, Feb, NJ)

A soft croak precedes each peent, but a peent does not always follow the croak. In this recording, the bird has just completed its final (12th) flight display of the evening (the period of flight displays lasted 20 minutes, began 17 minutes after sunset, 6 minutes after the first peent). The bird is heard landing, peents a few times, and then begins walking, uttering only croaks (7.44pm, mid-Mar, PA).

An aggressive rattle is often heard when a male flies over a rival male. The twittering of the wings stops during the rattle in both of these examples(6.21am, Mar, PA).

(7.31pm, Mar, PA).

A single flight display (with other birds peenting from the ground,7.34pm, Mar, PA).

At the end of a flight the vocal chirping stops a few seconds before the birds lands at 11s (7.25pm, Mar, PA)

This recording begins with a bird at the height of a display flight, and ends with a second, complete, flight display, with peents in between.(5.50am, Feb, NJ)

continuous mechanical twittering during ascent

intermittent twittering and chirping at peak

continuous vocal chirping during descent

Multiple (at least seven) males peenting in a field before dawn. Peenting began at 6.14am, and continued until 6.38am, half an hour before sunrise (6.27am, Mar, PA).

Flushed bird (7.55pm, Mar, PA).

Alarm call "scaip" of a flushed Wilson's Snipe (Nov, NJ).

This is also the nocturnal flight call (30 mins before sunrise, Sep, PA).

Other calls of Wilson's Snipe are usually only heard on the breeding grounds:

Jick call with winnowing (the flight display sound) in the background (May, ND).

Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America. Nathan Pieplow, 2017. Highly recommended, includes almost all known vocalizations of eastern US birds, with spectrograms and detailed analysis. Excellent!

Stokes Field Guide to Bird Song, Eastern Region, by Lang Elliot. 3 CDs. Of commercial recordings, this has the most comprehensive collection of songs and calls.

The Birds of North America Online (BNA). Comprehensive information on all aspects of life history, including audio and video. By subscription.

The Singing Life of Birds. Donald Kroodsma, Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Terrific book (plus CD), a must read.

The Songs of Wildbirds. Lang Elliott., Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Excellent photos with high quality recordings including some rare ones such as the flight song of the Western Meadowlark.

The Sound Approach to Birding. A guide to understanding bird sound. A. van de Berg, M Constantine, M. Robb. Superb discussion of bird calls and song with 2 CDs.